| Bortolami predicts dour contest
Italy skipper Marco Bortolami believes Saturday's Six Nations contest against Scotland will be a scrappy encounter.
With both sides looking for their first win of the championship, the third-round game at Murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. And Bortolami feels the Edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. "It will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win," said the lock forward. Italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the Six Nations in 2000, but two of those have come against Scotland. This year, Italy opened up with a stubborn display against Ireland but ended up losing 28-17.
However, they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive Welsh side in Rome last time out. Now the Italians travel to Edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the Six Nations. "Scotland played extremely well against France in Paris but not so well when Ireland came to Edinburgh," said Bortolami. "We are still very disappointed with our last game against Wales in Rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. "As a nation, our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games."
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| Edwards tips Idowu for Euro gold
World outdoor triple jump record holder and BBC pundit Jonathan Edwards believes Phillips Idowu can take gold at the European Indoor Championships.
Idowu landed 17.30m at the British trials in Sheffield last month to lead the world triple jump rankings. "It's all down to him, but if he jumps as well as he did in Sheffield he could win the gold medal," said Edwards. "His ability is undoubted but all his best performances seem to happen in domestic meetings."
Idowu made his breakthrough five years ago but so far has only a Commonwealth silver medal to his name. Edwards himself kept Idowu off top spot at the Manchester Games. But he believes the European Indoors in Madrid represent a chance for the 26-year-old to prove his credentials as Britain's top triple jumper. "He has to start producing at international level and here is the beginning," said Edwards. "Phillips still needs to be much more consistent. I'm sure a victory in Madrid will build up his confidence and self-belief that he can be best in the world." The qualifying round of the men's triple jump in Madrid takes place on Friday with the final scheduled for Saturday. Olympic champion Christian Olsson will not be taking part as he is out for the entire indoor season with an ankle injury.
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| Ferguson rues failure to cut gap
Boss Sir Alex Ferguson was left ruing Manchester United's failure to close the gap on Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal after his side's 1-1 draw with Fulham.
Premiership leaders Chelsea and the Gunners endured a 2-2 stalemate on Sunday, giving United the chance to make up some ground in the league. But Ferguson said: "I think what makes it so bad is that both our rivals dropped points at the weekend. "It was a great opportunity - and we haven't delivered." United went ahead through Alan Smith in the 33rd minute before Bouba Diop's superb 25-yard strike cancelled out the visitors' lead in the 87th minute. Ferguson described the result as an "absolute giveaway" after United had earlier missed a host of opportunities to finish off the encounter. He said: "It was a good performance - some of the football was fantastic - but we just didn't finish them off. "In fairness, it's a fantastic strike from the Fulham player." The result leaves Ferguson's side fourth in the league on 31 points - four points behind Arsenal and a further five back from Chelsea.
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| Hantuchova in Dubai last eight
Daniela Hantuchova moved into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open, after beating Elene Likhotseva of Russia 7-5 6-4, and now faces Serena Williams.
Australian Open champion Williams survived an early scare to beat Russia's Elena Bovina 1-6 6-1 6-4. World number one Lindsay Davenport and Anastasia Myskina also progressed. Davenport defeated China's Jie Zheng 6-2 7-5, while French Open champion Myskina sailed through after her opponent Marion Bartoli retired hurt. American Davenport will now face fellow former Wimbledon champion, Conchita Martinez of Spain, who ousted seventh-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France 6-1 6-2. Myskina will face eighth-seed Patty Schnyder from Switzerland, who defeated China's Li Na 6-3 7-6 (10-8). The other quarter final pits wild card Sania Mirza of India against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro, who both won on Tuesday.
Before her meeting with Martinez, Davenport believes there is some room for improvement in her game. "I started well and finished well, but played some so-so games in the middle," she said. Williams was also far from content. "I don't know what I was doing there," she said. "It was really windy and I hadn't played in the wind. All my shots were going out of here." But Hantuchova is in upbeat mood ahead of her clash with the younger Williams sister, who was handed a first-round bye. "I feel I have an advantage (over Serena) because I have already played two matches on these courts," she said. "It is a difficult court to play on. Very fast and sometimes you feel you have no control over the ball."
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| Harbhajan action given all-clear
Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh's bowling action has been cleared under new regulations introduced by the International Cricket Council.
A bowler's action is now deemed legal providing his arm straightens by no more than 15 degrees. An ICC statement said Harbhajan's orthodox off-break and doosra now fell "within the tolerance threshold". He was reported to the ICC by match referee Chris Broad after a Test in Bangladesh last December. As a result, he underwent tests supervised by biomechanics expert Bruce Elliott of the University of Western Australia last month, who reported back to a panel of experts set up by the Indian board. They passed his findings on to the ICC, who will now circulated them to all members of the elite panel of umpires and match referees. Harbhajan, whose action first came under scrutiny in 1998, has taken 189 Test wickets and claimed 117 victims in one-day internationals. Elliott said he was confident he had bowled with a similar intensity to that of Test matches during the camera test. "We can make a comparison to the video from the match when he was reported - things such as ball speed, arm rotation, position of the body and technique," he explained. "We had two arbiters in Daryl Foster and Harbhajan himself to give a ranking to each delivery so that we were confident they were quality deliveries."
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| Holmes starts 2005 with GB events
Kelly Holmes will start 2005 with a series of races in Britain.
Holmes will make her first track appearance on home soil since winning double Olympic gold in January's Norwich Union International in Glasgow. She will also run in the Grand Prix in Birmingham in February and may defend her indoor AAA 800m title in Sheffield earlier that month. "I am still competitive and still want to win," she said. "I'm an athlete and I can't wait to get back on the track." She added: "These events are also a great opportunity to thank the British public for the enormous levels of support they have given me from the moment I stepped off that plane from Greece." The Glasgow meeting will see Holmes compete over 1500m in a five-way match against Sweden, France, Russia and Italy.
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| India's top six secure - Ganguly
Captain Sourav Ganguly has revealed India will not be tempted into tinkering with their batting order for the first Test against Pakistan.
"Our batting order for the Tests is fixed. There are no changes from number three to six," Ganguly told BBC Sport. It means Rahul Dravid will remain at number three and VVS Laxman at six, despite the latter averaging 53.5 at first drop in Test cricket. "To be honest, Dravid has batted better than Laxman at three," Ganguly added. "If you ask any batsman, he would like to bat higher up, as it gives a greater opportunity to score. "While batting lower down the order, you have to play more with the tail." Ganguly gave his backing to Gautam Gambhir, banishing speculation Yuvraj Singh could be asked to open the batting again after a failed experiment against Australia last year.
"I feel there is no born opener - the team has to find one," he stated. "Look at Justin Langer, he was not an opener, but how well the Aussies have groomed him. Virender Sehwag is a settled opener now both in Tests and one-dayers, and Gambhir is doing well. "In a year's time, we should have a settled opening pair." Sachin Tendulkar, who will bat at number four with Ganguly at five, also received the support of his skipper despite concerns over fitness and form. "When Sachin says he is 100 percent fit, he is, and nobody has a right to talk about the form of a man who has 70 international hundreds." With wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik to come in at number seven, India are left with just four spots for bowlers - suggesting Yuvraj could miss out.
Mohali, which will host the first Test starting on 8 March, is known as a seam-friendly pitch and India have included four pacemen in their 14-man squad. In addition to spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, India will be forced to choose from the pace quartet of Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Lakshmipathy Balaji. "In Kumble and Harbhajan, we have two world class spinners and at the moment there is no place for a third one," Ganguly said. "Our seam attack had done particularly well during the Pakistan tour last year, and we will select the final eleven after having a look at the wickets in Mohali, which has had a record of a seaming track." Ganguly refused to get carried away with the fact Pakistan's pace attack has been depleted with the absence of Shoaib Akhtar through injury.
"I feel Pakistan has a young and fit team, which is hungry for success. In my view they have done the right thing by bringing a fit team, rather than bringing injured players," he said. "It is better to have a fully fit team than having an injured Shoaib Akhtar or even Don Bradman for that matter. "I do not agree with those who say Pakistan's team is weak and has given India a walkover. "It will be a tough series and the next 50 days will be a treat for fans of both sides."
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| Jayasuriya set to join Somerset
Somerset are expected to announce later on Thursday that Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will join the county for the start of the 2005 season.
Chief executive Peter Anderson told BBC Sport that the club would release a statement on the matter at 1600 GMT. Jayasuriya will probably fill the place of Graeme Smith on a temporary basis as the South African is due to arrive in late May to captain the team. Jayasuriya, 35, had rejected an offer to play for the Scottish Saltires. Jayasuriya has played in 94 Tests, averaging 43.45 with the bat and taking 89 wickets with his left-arm spin. He has also played in more one-day internationals than all but three players in world cricket with 334 appearances. But the attack-minded left-hander has never played county cricket before. It is shaping up to be a golden summer for Sri Lankans in English domestic cricket, with Upul Chandana (Gloucestershire), Chaminda Vaas (Worcestershire) and Muttiah Muralitharan (Lancashire) all contracted. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are also reported to be looking for opportunities.
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| Moyes U-turn on Beattie dismissal
Everton manager David Moyes will discipline striker James Beattie after all for his headbutt on Chelsea defender William Gallas.
The Scot initially defended Beattie, whose dismissal put Everton on the back foot in a game they ultimately lost 1-0, saying Gallas overreacted. But he has had a rethink after looking over the video evidence again. He said: "I believe that I should set the record straight by conceding that the dismissal was right and correct." Moyes added: "My comments on Saturday came immediately after the final whistle and at a point when I had only had the opportunity to see one, very quick re-run of the incident."
The club website also reported that Beattie, who seemed unrepentant after Saturday's match, insisting Gallas "would have stayed down a lot longer" if he had headbutted him, has now apologised. Moyes continued: "Although the incident was totally out of character - James has never even been suspended before in his career - his actions were unacceptable and had a detrimental effect on his team-mates. "James did issue a formal apology to myself, his team-mates and to the Everton supporters immediately after the game and that was the right thing to have done. He will now be subjected to the normal club discipline. "He is a competitive player but a fair player and I know how upset he is by what has happened. However, I must say that I do still believe the Chelsea player in question did go down too easily." Speaking immediately after the game, Moyes said: "I don't think it was a sending-off, I have been a centre-half in my time and I would have been ashamed to have gone down as easily as that.
"Not in a million years would John Terry have gone down in the same way. I have never heard of anybody butting somebody from behind while you are running after them. "What has happened to big, strong centre-halves? I thought it was a push initially and I still don't think it was a sending-off." An angry Beattie initially said: "He (Gallas) would have stayed down a lot longer if I had headbutted him. "I can tell you it wasn't an intentional headbutt. We were chasing a ball into the corner and William Gallas was looking over his shoulder and blocking me off. "He was stopping as we were running and I said to myself 'if you're going to stay in my way I'll go straight over you'. Our heads barely touched and it wasn't an intentional headbutt."
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| Spain coach faces racism inquiry
Spain's Football Federation has initiated disciplinary action against national coach Luis Aragones over racist comments about Thierry Henry.
If found guilty Aragones could lose his job or face a fine of about £22,000. The federation had initially declined to take action against Aragones after comments he made during a national team training session in October. But its president Angel Maria Villar changed his mind after a request by Spain's anti-violence commission. Aragones insisted the comments, made to Henry's Arsenal club-mate Jose Antonio Reyes, were meant to motivate the player, and were not intended to be offensive.
"I never intended to offend anyone, and for that reason I have a very easy conscience," he said at the time. "I'm obliged to motivate my players to get the best results. "As part of that job, I use colloquial language, with which we can all understand each other within the framework of the football world. " England's players made a point of wearing anti-racism t-shirts when training before their friendly against Spain in Madrid last month.
But the storm increased following racist chanting by Spanish fans at England's black players during the game, which Spain won 1-0. Spain's minister of sport Jaime Lissavetzky was quick to give his backing to the Federation's decision. "Everyone who has a public function has to consider their declarations, and make sure they do not give a negative image," he said. "We are going to have zero tolerance in questions of racism."
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